Rosie the Bottle Baby

This is Rosie. She is a registered Colored Angora Goat. She and her brother Blue were born on March 29, 2011. Rosie's mother has only one functioning udder. She favored brother Blue from birth and did not let Rosie have her fair share of milk.

I started bottled feeding extra milk to Rose as soon as I realized that the mother goat was not providing her with enough milk and was favoring brother Blue. I don't know how much colostrum sweet Rose received from Mom, but I do know that she has been holding her own drinking from the bottle and what she could glean from Mom. At just over a month old she is now sampling greens in the pasture and eating some of the goodies in the kid creep-feeder.

Last Thursday I heard her cough. I didn't think much of it because she had been digging into the food I had just put out for the adult goats and I thought she probably had gotten a bit down the wrong pipe. It was just one cough . . .

Then Friday I heard her cough again, and she didn't drink as much milk as she had been doing. By Saturday it was very obvious that little Rose was sick. It was a beautiful sunny day and the other goats were enjoying pasture time on one of the first great days this spring. Rose followed them out and then lay down, not eating. I watched her and became more concerned.

Sunday it was the same. Beautiful day, other kids romping madly around the pasture, Rosie eating a bit and then sleeping.

In my area large animal vets are becoming very scarce. And very few of them take emergency weekend calls. I knew that I would have to wait for Monday to get Rose in for medical attention. I brought her in the house and set her up in a large dog crate. I filled a vaporizer and set that up near her.

On Monday I got Rose in to see the vet. The diagnosis is pneumonia. She is on a strong round of antibiotics and vitamin shots. So far she is doing well. She is still coughing, but the rapid breathing and fevers have subsided. On warm days I put her out with her family for short periods so that she can have sunshine and fresh greens.

I hope this sweet little goat pulls through this. For now all I can do is keep her warm and well-fed and give her the medications that will help her beat the bug.